A method to guide community planning and evaluation efforts in tobacco control using data on smoking during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Effective community based tobacco control programmes are critical for state and nationwide impact. However, there is little discussion in the literature of methods for setting local objectives which use locally collected data and account for historical variation in progress. OBJECTIVES: To develop and illustrate a method that uses locally available birth certificate data to model trends in tobacco use during pregnancy among women giving birth, predict future prevalence, and use predictions to set community specific tobacco control objectives. DATA SOURCE: Vital statistics. Wisconsin standard birth certificates, 1990-2000, which record the smoking status of the mother during pregnancy. DATA ANALYSIS: Trends in the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in Wisconsin statewide and in all counties (n = 72) were modelled using linear regression of log prevalence on year. Model fit was assessed using R(2). Regression slopes, indicating estimated relative annual percentage change in prevalence, were used to predict prevalence in 2005, and objectives were calculated as a 20% reduction from the predicted prevalence in 2005. CONCLUSIONS: Modelling trends in the prevalence of smoking using locally collected data enables communities to set reasonable future tobacco control objectives that account for historical trends in progress.

Contributions of UP elements and the transcription factor FIS to expression from the seven rrn P1 promoters in Escherichia coli.

The high activity of the rrnB P1 promoter in Escherichia coli results from a cis-acting DNA sequence, the UP element, and a trans-acting transcription factor, FIS. In this study, we examine the effects of FIS and the UP element at the other six rrn P1 promoters. We find that UP elements are present at all of the rrn P1 promoters, but they make different relative contributions to promoter activity. Similarly, FIS binds upstream of, and activates, all seven rrn P1 promoters but to different extents. The total number of FIS binding sites, as well as their positions relative to the transcription start site, differ at each rrn P1 promoter. Surprisingly, the FIS sites upstream of site I play a much larger role in transcription from most rrn P1 promoters compared to rrnB P1. Our studies indicate that the overall activities of the seven rrn P1 promoters are similar, and the same contributors are responsible for these high activities, but these inputs make different relative contributions and may act through slightly different mechanisms at each promoter. These studies have implications for the control of gene expression of unlinked multigene families.